This invention relates to a weedless fishing lure comprising a hook, a plastic worm lure, and a clamping device to attach the lure to the hook.
Fish hooks with a plastic worm lure attached are well known. In order for these combinations to be weedless, i.e., not to have a pointed end exposed to be able to catch on weeds as the lure is pulled through a weed bed, a wire loop is pivoted at the eye of the hook with the loop extending to the barbed point and latches in place at the barb. When the fish bites it causes the loop to unfasten and pivot away from the barb allowing the fish to be caught by the barbed point. It is very difficult to make a loop which will not open when pressed against a weed but will open when a fish bites, and therefore, this type of prior art device is not entirely satisfactory. Continued use of such a device eventually makes it inoperable because the loop will not close to make the hook weedless. Still another problem of the prior art devices is that the plastic lure, which is threaded on the hook by piercing the lure with the barbed point and running it down the centerline of the lure, slides up and down on the steel hook shank, exposing the shank and eye of the hook, which makes the lure less effective because it does not look like a live worm when any portion of the shank and eye is exposed. The present invention eliminates both of these prior art defects.
It is an object of this invention to provide a novel fish hook having a lure attaching device on the hook. It is another object of this invention to provide a novel fish hook having a lure attaching device affixed to the eye of the hook and adapted to clamp the head of a plastic worm so it will not slide away from the eye. Still other objects will become apparent from the more detailed description which follows.